BPY2110 MODERN PHYSICS

INTRUCTION: ANSWER QUESTION ONE AND ANY OTHER TWO

QUESTION ONE (20MKS)

a) Define the term half-life. (2mks)

b) Give three states of matter (3mks)
c) What is radioactivity (2mks)
226 y 4
d) If an element xA undergoes nuclear reactions to yield 86B + 2He . Find the values of x
and y and hence write elements A and B including both mass and atomic number (3mks)
e) What is matter? (2mks)
f) Derive a general equation for time taken by mass of an element to reduce to half.(5mks)
g) Determine the decay constant of 86Rn222 if it has half-life of 3.82 days (3mks)
h) State three Bohr’s postulates and give two implications (5mks)
i) Given the information below, Calculate the radius of the third’s Bohr’s orbital radius (use
π=3.142 ¿ (5mks)
12
ε =8.85 ×10 M
−34
ℎ=6.62× 10 Js
− 31
m=9.11×10 kg
−19
e=1.6 × 10 C

QUESTION TWO (20MKS)

a) Define the term length contraction and time dilation and give their effects(4mks)
b) Using any suitable length of your choice, show that the length of a stick would appear
to reduce to zero if it moves at a velocity which is equal or near equal to the speed of
light past stationary observer. (3mks)
c) A stick of length 6 meters is moving past an observer at a relative speed of
8
2.0 ×10 m/ s. What is the length detected by the observer (5mks)
8
d) If an electron is made to move at a velocity of v=1.70 ×10 m/s . What would be its
observed mass? (mass of electron m=9.1×10 −31 kg ¿ (5mks)
e) Write an expression for the relationship between time taken by any event recorded by
two observers one outside the frame and the other inside. What each letters means.
(3mks)

QUESTION THREE (20mks)

a) Define the following terms

i. Stopping potential (2marks)
ii. Threshold frequency (2marks)
iii. Work function (2marks)
 b) A photon of light falls on a material whose work function is 3.25eV.If the photon has a
frequency of 6 ×10 15 Hz calculate:
i) Energy in the photon (4mks)
ii) Maximum kinetic energy of the liberated electrons (3mks)
iii) The threshold frequency of the material that was used (4mks)
iv) The stopping potential that is required to stop the electrons from reaching the
anode. (3mks)

QUESTION FOUR (20MKS)

a) Define the following terms.

i. Nuclear mass defect.(2mks)
ii. Nuclear binding energy.(3mks)
b) Consider the formation of Helium whose atomic number is 2 and mass number is 4.
Using 2 protons and the 2 neutrons, calculate;
i) Nuclear mass defect (4mks)
ii) Binding energy (4mks)
iii) The binding energy per nucleon for Helium.(4mks)
iv) State three factors that are believed to influence the stability of atomic
nuclei(3mks)